Chapter 533 [Twenty-Ninth Army]

"Extra, extra!"

"Great victory at Xifengkou!"

"Our army hacked and killed thousands of Japanese soldiers and blew up 18 cannons, which shocked the inside and outside of the Great Wall!"

With a cheerful smile on his face, the newsboy waved the newspaper and shouted all over the street, quickly attracting the attention of many passers-by.

Duanmu Hongliang, who was sitting on the rickshaw, hurriedly shouted: "Stop, stop, I want to buy a newspaper!"

"okay!"

The coachman immediately turned around and ran back, leaned over to the newspaper boy, and asked impatiently, "Did we really win?"

"I won, I won!" The newsboy replied hastily.

Someone next to him asked, "Which general won the battle?"

The passers-by who had already bought the newspaper quickly browsed the article and read excitedly: "It is the broadsword team of the 29th Army. Four regiments launched a night attack on the Japanese army. Each soldier carried a shining broadsword on his back. Zhao Dengyu and Tong Zeguang The brigade commander took the lead, rushed into the enemy's position, hacked and wounded thousands of Japanese invaders, and seized 11 tanks, 6 armored vehicles, 18 cannons, 36 machine guns, 1 aircraft, as well as Japanese military flags, maps and Camera wait!"

"good!"

"Good kill!"

There was loud applause from the street, the newspaper boys had already been robbed of all the newspapers, and many people ran to other places to buy newspapers.

It was not easy for Duanmu Honghao to buy a copy. He read and reread the news reports, shaking with excitement all over his body, and smiled with tears in his eyes: "Well played, the two brigade commanders fought really well! If our soldiers With such heroism, why not drive the Japanese invaders out of China?"

"This gentleman is right, our Chinese soldiers are not all cowards!" A middle-aged man echoed.

Someone asked again: "What are the backgrounds of those two brigade commanders who killed the enemy in blood?"

"Of course it's the Northwest Army," a knowledgeable person immediately explained, "The newspaper said it was the soldiers of the 29th Army. The 29th Army used to be the Northwest Army. Feng Yuxiang was defeated in the Central Plains War, and the 29th Army was incorporated by Zhang Xueliang. These two Most of the brigade commanders who have made great contributions are from the Northwest Army."

"It's still the Northwest Army that beat the Central Army to the point of crying."

"The dog x's little Japan has bitten a hard bone!"

"Let me see, the two brigade commanders have made such great contributions, they should be promoted to generals!"

"..."

People were discussing with each other, and the joy was beyond words. Among the overwhelming battle reports of the defeat, there was a shocking victory report, which was enough to inspire people's hearts.

Duanmu Hongliang carefully folded the newspaper and put it in his chest pocket, the blood in his whole body seemed to be boiling.

At this moment, no matter Tianjin, Beiping, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan... as long as the city that received the good news, everywhere becomes a sea of ​​joy.

Condolence groups were formed from all walks of life, and they went north to work in the army with the money and goods donated. Reporters from various newspapers flocked here, just wanting to take a picture of the anti-Japanese hero. The news film filmed with the army was soon shown in theaters across the country. As long as Song Zheyuan (the leader of the 29th Army) appeared in the film, all the audience stood up and applauded spontaneously.

The Broadsword Team of the 29th Army has since become famous all over the world. Composer Mai Xin composed the "March of the Broadswords" for this purpose. Cut it up, brothers of the 29th Army, the day of the war of resistance has come..."

This Xifengkou victory undoubtedly gave the Chinese a burst of stimulants.

Since the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War, China has always been the defeated side. So much so that now, even the patriots who chanted the slogan of the War of Resistance are very unconfident in their hearts, thinking that it is impossible for China to defeat Japan.

Now, the Broadsword Team of the 29th Army has finally made the people of the country proud - we can still win the battle!

Tianjin "Yishi Bao" combined the Xifengkou Anti-Japanese War of the 29th Army with the Songhu Anti-Japanese War of the 19th Route Army last year. war so that we Chinese can still be human.”

The Shanghai "Times" even chanted a slogan: "With a steel knife in hand ninety-nine, kill Hu'er before you stop!"

The editorial of Beiping's "World Journal" said: "The fighting power of the Chinese army and the self-defense power of the Chinese nation have been newly and powerfully proved after the 19th Route Army. The highest expression of power."

Even Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" reported and commented: "Since Emperor Meiji built his army, the imperial army's reputation has been lost outside Xifeng's mouth, and it has suffered an insult unprecedented in 60 years."

The great victory at Xifengkou has aroused violent repercussions no matter in China or Japan.

...

San Le Hall.

After leaving the field, Zhang Xueliang is taking his wife Yu Fengzhi to give up opium at Zhou Hexuan's house. He has been arranged by the Central Party Committee to visit Europe. In order not to be ridiculed by foreigners as the "sick man of East Asia", Zhang Xueliang came to Zhou Hexuan to help him quit smoking. (The previously deleted chapters have descriptions, so I don’t want to say more here, anyway, Zhang Xueliang is staying at Zhou Hexuan’s house.)

"Great victory, it really is a great victory!" Zhang Xueliang held the newspaper, crying with a smile.

Zhou Hexuan also took the newspaper and read it again and again, and said with a smile, "Congratulations to Commander Six."

Zhang Xueliang waved his hands helplessly and said, "It's all done by the soldiers, it has nothing to do with me."

To be honest, Zhang Xueliang really had a lot to do with the 29th Army's victory at Xifengkou this time.

When Zhang Xueliang first recruited the 29th Army, he only gave 500,000 yuan as a resettlement fee and let it go. The 29th Army was stationed under the fence of Jiren in Shanxi, with no military expenses and poverty. The soldiers were like beggars.

It wasn't until last year that Zhang Xueliang took the initiative to transfer the 29th Army to Chahar in order to guard against the Kwantung Army's attack, so that these homeless Northwest Army had their own territory. When the 29th Army moved to Chahar, they even had to march at night, because their equipment and military appearance were too bad, and they were afraid that they would be seen as bandits during the day.

Who would have thought that this group of beggars dressed like bandits would have won such a great victory on the Great Wall.

Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, the Northwest Army is really capable of fighting. During the war in the Central Plains, if Yan Xishan hadn't deliberately dragged his feet, the Central Army would have been beaten and maimed by the Northwest Army long ago. It is hard to say whether Lao Jiang can rule China smoothly.

What a pity!

Thinking of what happened to the 29th Army in history, Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but sigh.

After this battle, Song Zheyuan returned to Chahar with the 29th Army. The army quickly expanded to more than 60,000 people, and received a large amount of equipment from the People's Anti-Japanese League and Tang Yulin's Department, becoming a pivotal military force in North China.

This army, which could have been the backbone of the anti-Japanese war, was dismissed by the Nanjing government as the chairman of Chahar Province on the grounds of "repeated troubles" because it continued to deal with the Japanese invaders. Was ceded to Little Japan.

Song Zheyuan, a dignified national hero and anti-Japanese general, was forced to go to Tianjin to work as an apartment. He was so angry that he publicly criticized: "Anyone who believes in Chang Kaishen's anti-Japanese war is a fool!"

Subsequently, the 29th Army expanded to a scale of 100,000 people, which was equivalent to the security barriers of Beiping and Tianjin, but Song Zheyuan himself was once forced to almost defect to Japan as a traitor. The Japanese invaders in front are enemies, and the Nanjing government behind them is also an enemy. Song Zheyuan thinks not how to fight, but how to preserve his 29th Army.

Until the eve of the July 7th Incident, Song Zheyuan was physically and mentally exhausted, tired of dealing with the Japanese for a long time, and simply ran back to his hometown in Shandong to recuperate—just when the Lugouqiao Incident broke out.

Caught off guard, the 29th Army suffered heavy losses and was ordered to withdraw to Baoding.

Chang Kai sent Feng Yuxiang to the 29th Army (which had been upgraded to the First Army at that time) to seize power. Feng Yuxiang was originally the senior officer of this army, but he was completely unable to command. There were many contradictions within the group, and the generals were suspicious of each other.

The anti-Japanese army with high morale was forced to become a warlord army that only wanted to protect itself and had extremely poor combat effectiveness. This is the history of the transformation of the 29th Army.

Of course, Song Zheyuan, as the leader of the 29th Army, is also to blame. He has too many selfish thoughts and always has the idea of ​​preserving his strength.

Fortunately, the spirit of the 29th Army's Great Wall War of Resistance has not been extinguished. Later, Liu Ruming's 68th Army, Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army, Feng Zhi'an's 77th Army... These troops are the continuation of the 29th Army, and they have repeatedly made military exploits in many battles.

General Zhang Zizhong's heroic martyrdom was the last twilight of the 29th Army on the anti-Japanese battlefield, and the remaining 29th Army troops gradually became second-rate miscellaneous.